


Making the Grade

by MikaKagehjra



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Adonis adopted Mitsuru and Arashi is his new teacher, M/M, Single Parent AU, Track Club, even kaoru has a pretty minor role, everyone tagged after kaoru plays a minor role, the most important part is track club family tbh, the ship is pretty light
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 04:30:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8875972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikaKagehjra/pseuds/MikaKagehjra
Summary: Adonis is a single father after adopting Mitsuru, who is now starting school for the first time. Adonis tries to talk himself out of parenting anxieties, but it's hard to do - that is, until he realizes that Mitsuru's new teacher is not only amazing with children, but exceptionally pretty.And potentially, interested.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 2016 Ensemble Stars Secret Santa Exchange, for twitter user @nikkeruu
> 
> Chosen prompts:  
> Adoara/track club, daycare/single parent au
> 
> I’ve never written for these characters before, so I was very excited to do this prompt even if it was challenging! I hope you like it (:

Adonis checked his watch as he walked down the sidewalk, keeping a sedate pace despite the toddler whose hand he was holding’s impatience. They were on time; there was no need to rush, however excited Mitsuru was for his first day of school. They’d just had breakfast, and it wouldn’t do for Mitsuru to get a stomach ache because he ran around too much too fast, even though he was prone to them. Instead the child had to content himself with skipping in place, swinging the hand that was linked with Adonis’ wildly as he chattered about everything he was excited to do that day. At least Adonis knew he wouldn’t be one of those parents with a child clinging tearfully to their leg, unwilling to let go and make new friends. Mitsuru was always happy to have his own adventures, and Adonis was happy to encourage them as long as they were safe… and bandage scraped knees when Mitsuru went a little too wild even safe environments.

“Do you have your snack?” he asked, even though he knew Mitsuru did. It had to be new parent anxiety, the sort he’d thought he wouldn’t have a) five years into raising a kid and b) given his steadfast nature. Still, it was soothed immediately by Mitsuru grinning and reaching into his backpack to show Adonis a little brown bag, sealed with a sticker of his favorite mascot character. The school would provide Mitsuru with a lunch, but Adonis couldn’t help but want to send him with something from home, at least for his first day. Ah, maybe that was parenting anxiety again… It sounded like the sort of thing Koga would laugh good-naturedly about if he knew. “Good. Oh, we’re just about here.”

When Adonis had adopted Mitsuru, he’d moved into a little house in the same neighborhood as an elementary school so that he could walk Mitsuru to school every morning. It was a quiet route, all houses in between theirs and the school, with one street with a light to cross right at the school’s entrance. But Mitsuru was a good kid, despite all his energy, and he’d happily hold Adonis’ hand the whole way as long as Adonis consented to lifting him up in the air a few times along the way. He did so now, helping Mitsuru get some height as he looked both ways (what a good boy, Adonis was so proud of him, really) and jumped off the curb.

“Now be good for your teacher. You have to sit still when he says. And you have to be respectful, call him Sensei unless he says it’s okay to give him a nickname. Ko-chan might like it, but you have to get permission first, okay?” Nevermind that Koga claimed to hate the nickname Mitsuru had given him. Adonis knew better, and he thought Mitsuru did too (unless he was just ignoring the other’s protests…).

“Okay, Papa!” The two entered the building and approached Mitsuru’s classroom, walking amongst a crowd of other students and their parents dropping them off. Mitsuru’s hand was tight in Adonis’, but he was bouncing, getting impatient. Adonis knew he’d run off as soon as he could, excited to meet his new classmates. Clearly he was the one more nervous about this first day.

At the door to Mitsuru’s classroom, a blond man stood talking to another father whose little girl was clinging to his leg. Or rather, little boy, as Adonis realized a moment later; he was just a very cute boy, with a rather long hairstyle. The blond man - Narukami-sensei, Adonis assumed - was smiling and gesturing with his hands as he reassured the father that little Hajime-chan would be fine. Adonis watched while they approached as Narukami crouched down to Hajime’s level, murmuring something in a soothing voice to coax a shy smile out of the little boy. Hajime began to come out from behind his father’s leg, and that’s when Mitsuru squirmed his hand out of Adonis’ hold, dashing off as he tended to do. Adonis couldn’t even speak as Mitsuru rushed up to Hajime, introducing himself loudly and laughing happily as Hajime hesitantly answered him, still halfway hiding behind his father. Adonis rushed to rescue the little boy, but by the time he reached the group, Mitsuru had maneuvered Hajime’s hand into his and pulled him into the classroom, barely acknowledging his teacher. Hajime’s father, a short blonde man with an uneven haircut, smiles at Adonis.

“That’s a nice boy you’ve got there; if he wants to come over to play with Hajime-chan any time after school, he’s welcome.” And then he’s leaving, apparently satisfied that Hajime will be taken care of at school. And Adonis is glad to hear it, since he couldn’t hear Mitsuru’s exchange with the boy; it wasn’t that he didn’t have faith in his son, but the boy could be a little… overwhelming, and Hajime had seemed especially shy.

“Nazuna is right; I didn’t catch your son’s name, but he certainly has a way of making people feel at ease, even at his age,” Narukami added. Adonis turned to greet the man who was going to be teaching his son (and apologize for Mitsuru’s poor introduction, though apparently overall good first impression), and oh. Oh, Narukami was very… pretty. Adonis was hardly eloquent at the best of times, but this man’s beauty stunned him senseless, and even internally he was struck dumb.

“Thank you, Narukami-sensei. I’m sorry he didn’t stop to introduce himself to you. My son is Mitsuru, and you can call me Adonis.” Adonis wasn’t sure why he’d just insisted his son’s teacher call him by his first name, but well, he’d always had a little difficulty adjusting to Japan’s way of addressing people by surname. But Narukami didn’t comment, only waved his apology away with a beaming smile that made Adonis dizzy.

“Please, it’s hardly a bother. I’d rather Mitsuru-chan have a good heart than good manners. Adonis, then - go ahead and call me Arashi; I hope your son gets along as well with me as he does with Hajime-chan! I’m supposed to be everyone’s big sister, after all.”

Adonis could hardly believe his social misstep was not only accepted by Arashi, but reciprocated. No wonder Mitsuru had such poor manners, if he was the example, but Arashi brushed it off like nothing.

“Thank you again, Arashi.” Adonis tested out the name; it felt warm, and his lips tingled when he spoke it. The giggle Arashi let out in response made his chest feel tight.

“Are you nervous about Mitsuru-chan’s first day? It’s okay to be, but you don’t have to; I’ll take good care of him. Ooh, here - “ Arashi gestured for Adonis to give him his hand, and Adonis did, confused. He watched, completely bewildered, as Arashi pulled a pen from his back pocket and wrote a string of numbers along the length of his forearm, followed by a heart and a smiley face. “A… phone number?” Oh, he didn’t mean to say that out loud, and why was it that he was normally so quiet but now he blurted out the stupidest things?

“It’s my cell; you seem a little lost. I don’t want to pry, but it’s obvious there’s no missus in the picture. Mitsuru seems like a great kid, but I’m sure it’s nice to have another pair of eyes to look out for him. Give me a call anytime if you need me, okay? Or even if you don’t ♪” Arashi winks and disappears into the classroom, and Adonis finally realizes that the hallway is empty - probably has been for a few minutes, now.

It was kind of Arashi, to give Adonis his number; his school friends had been doing their best to support him, but none of them had experience raising a child either, and like him, hadn’t intended on raising one, at least for awhile. Kaoru had never felt comfortable in family settings, the closest thing Koga had to a kid was his dog, and Rei… Well, Rei did his best, but Mitsuru wasn’t Ritsu. In fact, they were complete opposites, so whenever Rei had suggestions, usually the opposite was true. But Arashi was a teacher - he worked with kids for a living, and he seemed to be a natural with them, judging from his ability to soothe Hajime in just a few moments (before Mitsuru stole him away, that is). Adonis needed to stop thinking about how _pretty_ the man was and just appreciate his help. Not his face.

  


Koga visited for dinner that night; when he called, he’d said that he was in the area taking Leon for a walk by coincidence, but it warmed Adonis to know that he wanted to check up on them after Mitsuru’s first day of school. Which, according to Mitsuru (and Arashi in the few minutes they’d talked while Adonis picked him up), was amazing. He’d made friends with almost everyone in his class, besides a few stubborn ones, but his favorites were Hajime from the morning and Tomoya, who he met because he accidentally drew on the boy.

Yeah, Adonis isn’t quite sure how that happened either.

Hajime and Tomoya had gotten picked up before Adonis got there for Mitsuru, but Mitsuru kept talking about how Hajime’s dad wanted all of them to play together over the weekend, and Hajime didn’t like to race but said he could swing really high on the swingset, so he wanted to go with his new friends to the park.

Mitsuru was happy to recount all of this again for Koga, and Adonis was happy to put out an extra plate for his old friend (along with a bowl of dog food with a few scraps of meat in it for the dog, of course). But the night drew on, and eventually Mitsuru’s eyes began to droop and his stories slowed. When he started yawning, Adonis intervened.

“Okay Kiddo, I think it’s about time for bed, don’t you?”

“Nooooo,” Mitsuru whined, as he always did. “Wanna stay up with you and Ko-chan.” Adonis watched the corners of Koga’s mouth twitch at the nickname with a smile.

“I know, but you have to rest up or you’ll be too tired to play with your new friends tomorrow, and then they’ll be sad. I’ll take care of Ko-chan, okay?”

Mitsuru hummed, thinking. “Okay. But I want Ko-chan to tell me a bedtime story!”

Adonis’ eyes slide over to Koga, who stood with a long-suffering sigh. “Okay pup, I guess I can do that.” He picked Mitsuru up easily, the other chattering quietly, words too close together to be understood as he carried him off to bed. While Koga took care of putting Mitsuru to bed, Adonis cleaned up from dinner; Koga might be a little rough around the edges, but even if they weren’t blood-related he was Mitsuru’s uncle. He could handle that much without Adonis hovering over him.

A few minutes later, Koga reentered to Adonis drying the dishes. His eyes instantly zeroed in on the numbers half washed off his arm, a low whistle leaving his lips.

“Where’d you go today that you could snag someone’s number?”

Adonis blinked back at him slowly, not understanding why Koga was grinning so widely. “It belongs to Mitsuru’s teacher; I have it in my phone already, so it’s okay that it’s coming off.”

“You got a date with the pup’s teacher?”

Oh. So that’s why he was grinning. “He just gave me his number in case I needed advice; he said it was obvious I was doing a good job with Mitsuru, but he thought I might want a second pair of eyes on him since I’m not married.”

Adonis thought that explanation would placate his friend, but Koga only groaned, dragging his hands down his face. “Adonis… Mitsuru’s teacher was totally hitting on you.”

Adonis didn’t react, his face blank as he continued to dry the dishes. “He didn’t hit me.”

“No, I mean he was flirting with you! Ugh, why are you so dense. The guy wants to take you on a date - or for you to take him, I don’t know how this shit works. He wouldn’t have said anything about you being single if he didn’t want to confirm he had a shot.”

Adonis didn’t speak for some time, his hands still moving steadily. “...Oh. What should I do about it?”

Koga sank into one of the chairs at the kitchen table, groaning into the wood. “You’re so slow, god. Just text him or something, I don’t know. Or ask Kaoru, he dates people. I’m more of a lone wolf, I don’t do that kinda mushy shit.” Koga paused. “Assuming you do wanna date him.”

Adonis hummed, putting down the last dish and joining Koga at the table. “He does have a pretty face.”

Koga rolled his eyes. “Gross. Don’t tell me how it goes.”

Adonis knows that means tell him how it goes, though.

  


Advice from Kaoru in hand, it’s a few days before Adonis can talk to Arashi again. He could text him, like Koga said, but Kaoru had made an undignified sound of horror when Adonis had suggested so. Apparently it was better if he asked in person, but to send at least one text first, so Adonis had texted him once so far to ask how Arashi usually got kids to sit still when he needed them to since Mitsuru had so much energy.

Kaoru had been very upset that that was the most romantic thing he could come up with, but said that at least kids were domestic. Whatever that meant. Well whatever it meant for getting a date, Arashi had been incredibly helpful - and Adonis was relieved to see that Mitsuru loved him so far in class, even calling him Arashi-chan-sensei. At first, the nickname had alarmed Adonis, knowing his son’s disregard for decorum, but when Mitsuru called Arashi that when saying goodbye at the end of school one day and Arashi only cheerfully bid him goodbye and reminded him to work hard at home too, Adonis’ concerns were assuaged. Really, when Arashi was so good with Mitsuru, how could he deny that dating him could be nice, even if he wasn’t usually interested in that sort of thing? It didn’t have to be awkward if it didn’t work out, anyway; they were both adults. So all he had to do now was ask.

On Friday when Adonis went to pick Mitsuru up, he was a bit early, so Mitsuru was still playing with one of his friends - this one’s name was Yuta, and he was apparently a twin, though his twin was in a different class. While the children played, Adonis decided to wait; he was in no rush to take Mitsuru home, after all. And, Arashi was approaching him at the door after folding a paper throwing star for one of the children, a small boy with dark hair covering one of his eyes.

“Hello, Adonis; do you need me to get Mitsuru-chan for you?”

Adonis nearly forgot to respond for a moment, Arashi’s bright smile distracting, but he managed to shake his head after a beat of silence. “No, I just happened to come a bit early accidentally. I’ll let him play until his friend’s guardian comes to pick him up.” He was going to leave it at that, but a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Kaoru urged him on. “I know you have to watch them, but do you have a moment to talk? I wanted to ask you something.”

Arashi’s ever-present smile was wiped off his face as his eyes widened slightly; though he was clearly surprised, he didn’t seem troubled. “Of course; is everything okay?”

“Yes; it’s nothing bad. I simply wanted to ask… Would you like to go with me to dinner this weekend? A friend of mine recommended a restaurant that opened recently, but it’s not exactly a family restaurant and Mitsuru will be at a friend’s house Saturday evening.” Adonis’ face felt warm, but he couldn’t say why. He wasn’t embarrassed… right?

Arashi, though, was staring, his mouth forming a perfect ‘o’ in an expression so delicate Adonis had assumed people simply didn’t make it. “Why Adonis, are you asking me on a date?”

“I… yes. A friend of mine told me you might be open to it, but I understand if you feel it’s inappropriate.”

“Inappropriate, probably. But your friend wasn’t wrong. I’d love to go to dinner with you.” Arashi was smiling again, but it wasn’t the same bright smile he showed Adonis and the children every day; this one was softer, and it felt more genuine even to Adonis who would readily admit that he wasn’t very emotionally intelligent. But after a moment, the smile morphed into his usual one as his eyes found something over Adonis’ shoulder. “Oh, hello, hello! Shinobu-chan, your father is here to pick you up! Don’t forget your pencil box again, okay sweetie?” He stepped closer to Adonis, lowering his voice to a murmur. “Text me the details; I’ll see you tomorrow night, okay~?” Mitsuru bounded up to them, talking loudly about his day even before they were able to shift their focus to him, and the moment was broken. Arashi was moving again in a flurry of floral perfume, back to work, while Adonis took Mitsuru’s hand numbly.

He swore he’d felt the warmth of a pair of lips on his cheek before they’d parted.


End file.
